Exercising machine



Oct. 29, 1940. P. DIXON EXERCISING MACHINE Filed Dec. 5, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l attorneys.

Oct. 29, 1940. P, N' 2,219,624

EXERCIS ING MACHINE Filed Dec. 5, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 (Ittornegs'.

Patented Oct. 29, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EXERGISING MACHINE Paul L. Dixon, Atlanta, Ga. Application December 5, 1939, Serial No. 307,702

11 Claims.

ical massage is afforded for maintaining local areas and the figure generally youthful and of good form.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved exercising machine-in which recreational features of the machine divert the mind from the work characteristic and thus promotefreer use of the machine with a greater percentage of its advantages in health and well being.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved exercising machine which is convertible to upright and inverted positions, in one of which positions the machine being adapted to rock back and forth with facilities for manually rocking the same by the person using the machine and with physical characteristics of the rockers which will also tend. to automatically, as by momentum, continue the rocking operation, once it is started.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, theinvention will be more fully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an improved exercisingmachine constructed according to the present invention.

parts broken away and parts shown in section.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the machine with parts broken away and parts shown in section.

Figure 4 is a transverse section taken on the line 44 in Figure 3.

' Figure 5 is a similar view taken on the line 5-5, also in Figure 3. Figure 6 is a side elevation of the machine showing one position and method of its use.

Figure 7 is a similar view with the machine supported on an elevatedsurface showinganother position and mannerof its use, and

Figure 8 is also a side elevation of thematral portions.

Figure 2 isa top plan view of the same, with chine in an upright non-rocking positionshowing a third position and manner of use.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the machine is composed of two side members or rockers l0 and II made of any appropriate mate- 5 rial and carrying in any desired manner a series or set of rollers l2. i

In the drawings, which show only one form or embodiment of the invention, the rollers I2"are' 10 shown to be made of wood of about an inch or an inch and ahalf in diameter and being highly polished or varnished and having trunnions l3 extending out from the ends thereof to be received into the perforated bearing ends M of, brackets I5 bolted or otherwise secured to the, rocker members [0 and II as indicated at [6;

The brackets l5 may lie along the inside surfaces of the rocker members In and II but the perforated bearing ends l ldesirably project iny wardly of the inner circles ll of the rocker mem- 2o bers to expose the surfaces of the rollers I2 on an inside are so that a person may sit upon such inside concave arc in the manner indicated in Figures 6 and 7 without interference from the inner rocker edges l1.

Such inner rocker edges are preferably not concentric with the outer rocker edges IS. The inner circle I1 is struck from one center while the outer circle I8 is struck from a different center, 0

Looking at Figure 3 the center from which the outer circle [8 is struck will be higher than the center from which the innercircle' I! is struck thus causing the rockers to be wider or deeper at their upper free ends than they are at their cen- This gives a rather sharp rotundity to the intermediate curvilinear portions of the outer circle l8'and flattened arcs at the" outer portibns of the rockers.

Metallic or other wear strips I9 preferably face the inner circles l'l adjacent the rotating trunnions l3 to protect the adjacent portions of the rockers from the destructive action of the rotating trunnions l3. Washers 20 may be placed on the trunnions l3 between the brackets I5 and the ends of rollers l2 to protect the rollers from wear and to facilitate general ease in rotation.

As shown more particularly in Figure 5, braces 2| may extend across between the rockers III and H at suitable spaced points although the hand- 50 grips 22 may possibly be sufiicient to this purpose. The braces 21 may be of metal or other appropriate material preferably being so rounded and so diminished cross-sectionally, indicated in Figure 3, to fit unobtrusively into the bights between adjoining rollers l2 and well within the circle which is circumscribed by the outer peripheries of the rollers [2; whereby a person in the attitude shown in Figure 8, and rolling back and forth over the convex arc of the rollers will not appreciably notice the presence of the braces 2|.

As shown in Figure 5, the braces have arms 23 extending at substantially right angles radially outward therefrom and lie along the inside faces of the rockers to which such arms are attached as by the bolts 24 or other appropriate fastenings. The handgrips 22 may be of any suitable material and are connected across between the rockers IE! and H near the outer ends thereof. These hand-grips 22 are fastened in any suitable manner as for instance by the bolts or screws 25 shown in Figure 2.

It will be noted that the wide free end portions of the rockers It and H are all struck off fiat and parallel with one another to provide the feet 28 on which the device immobilely rests when in the upright position shown in Figure 8. These feet are preferably covered with pads 27 and the outer surfaces 18 of the rockers are preferably lined with a facing 28 of rubber, canvas or a composition of the two or some other appropriate facing material which will avoid marring of the floor, table tops or of the furniture generally, and which will also minimize noise in the operation of the machine and thus avoid its being a nuisance to other dwellers in the same household.

It will be noted that the hand-grips or handholds 22 are spaced slightly away from the feet 26 in order, at all times, to elevate these handgrips above the floor or supporting surface, as indicated in Figure 8, so that the fingers may pass freely under the hand-holds when it is desired to lift the machine from the position shown in Figure 8, as by inverting it to the position shown in Figures 6 and '7.

The hand-grips or hand-holds 22 form spacing members, as shown in Figure 2, for maintaining the rockers i) and l i the requisite distance apart. By removing the screws 25 and the bolts 26 the rockers l0 and H could be moved apart and the rollers l2 separated therefrom for the purpose of dismantling the machine for shipment and the like or for replacing worn or broken rollers.

It will be noted that the wooden or other rollers l2 are carried by the rockers and that they turn independently of each other.

In the use of the device for reducing the hips and thighs by mechanical massage of the rollers, themachine is set up either upon the floor, as indicated in Figure 6, or upon an elevated surface, as upon a table top indicated in Figure '7. The hand-grips 22 are taken one in each hand. The occupant should sit well back in the machine with feet raised above the floor and rock back and forth over the entire set of rollers by pulling on the hand grips 22. Momentum is quickly gathered and the rolling motion is maintained easily due to the arrangement of the inner and outer circles 11 and I8. I

The rocker tends to continue rocking once it is started due to the long outside circle I8 and the shorter off-center inside circle ll. Due to the long outside circle l8 the machine will not roll over, for instance like a hoop or wheel, but it reverses its motion. In other words the rockers oscillate freely and have a tendency to reverse their motion when rolled to one end. Therefore a person sitting in this machine can easily roll from-one extreme to the other in an upright position with very little effort and receive the maximum massage.

As a matter of fact the machine may be propelled back and forth substantially beneath the person sitting therein who may continue to occupy substantially the same vertical position, the rollers i2 rolling back and forth under the hips and thighs and thus subjecting these areas to a roller mechanical massage in constantly recurring opposite sequence; or the person may slide up and down the rising and falling curvilinear walls of the roller set for the purpose of creating a relative movement of the hips and thighs over the rollers. When a person is seated in the machine and has begun to rock, momentum carries the load up right and left inclines and gravity returns it to the center of rocker. This might be likened to a pendulum motion.

As shown in Figure '7, the machine may be used on a bench or table allowing the feet to hang down. In addition to the vibrating massage of thighs and hips there is a decided exercising of the muscles of the abdomen and arms in the rocking process, but as it is easy to do it simulates play or recreation rather than work, and for this reason will be particularly appealing to those having need of its reducing characteristic.

Referring more particularly to Figure 8, the machine may be placed in an upright position and the body drawn back and forth over the outer arc of the rollers l2, thus affording active massage of the abdomen.

When used in the manner set forth in Figures 6 and 7 the rollers move under the body rather than the body over the rollers, so that there is no swinging or rocking motion of the body which sometimes causes giddiness or stomach sickness. This condition is sometimes brought on by rolling on the floor, an exercise that is recommended by some authorities. Therefore an unique cooperation between the rollers and the rockers is that the rocking motion of the rockers enables the rollers to be translated back and forth under a substantially immovable occupant or subject, the rollers during the movement of translation also-rotating about their individual axes to produce the massaging action upon the occupant or subject without requiring any movement of the occupant or subject.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims:

What is claimed is:

1. In an improved exercising machine, rockers, a set of rollers carried by said rockers and positioned above the rockers to receive an occupant in the concave arc of the rockers and the rollers carried thereby, and hand-holds or hand-grips on the rockers moving with the rockers for oscillating the rockers and the rollers.

2. In an improved exercising machine, rockers having inner and outer circles struck from different centers, a curvilinear set of rollers on the rockers and extending inwardly of the inner circle to form a concave seat for an occupant, and means on the rockers for causing the rockers to oscillate.

3. In an improved exercising machine, rockers having inner and outer circles struck on dilferent centers with the rockers deeper at the free ends thereof and narrower in the central parts, handgrips connected between the rockers at their outer deeper ends, and a set of independently rotatable rollers carried by the rockers in a curvilinear arrangement with their concave peripheries set inwardly of the inner circle whereby to receive an occupant in sitting posture with hands engaging said hand-grips.

4. In an improved exercising machine, rockers, means for holding said rockers in spaced apart relation, a curvilinear set of independently rotatable rollers carried by said rockers with the concave arc of the rollers lying inwardly of the innermost portions of the rockers to receive an occupant in a sitting posture, and feet on said rockers for holding the rockers in an upright position to receive on the convex are of said rollers an occupant confined by the rockers, said rockers affording hand-holds for the occupant to propel such occupant back and forth over the convex arc of the rollers.

5. In an improved exercising machine, rockers, brackets carried thereby having bearings, rollers having trunnions loosely received in said bearings, and means for holding said rockers in a predetermined spaced condition to hold the bearings upon such trunnions and permitting of the bearings being separated from the trunnions when such means is dismantled.

6. In an improved exercising machine, rockers, rollers carried by said rockers, and braces secured to said rockers and extending across in substantial parallelism with the rollers-and of a size and cross-sectional dimension to lie substantially within the confines of the bight between adjacent rollers.

7. In an improved exercising machine, rockers having inner and outer circles struck upon different centers with the outer circles more round centrally with flattened outer edges, said rockers having substantially flat parallel feet for resting upon a supporting surface in a non-rocking'upright position, brackets secured to said rockers and lying substantially coincident with radii of either circle, said brackets having perforated bearings projecting inwardly of the inner circle, a curvilinear set of independently rotatable rollers each having trunnions freely fitted in said bear- I ings, braces secured to the inner portions of said rocker and extending across with said rollers on the convex arc sides of the rollers, said braces being of a size and cross-sectional dimension to fit withinthe bights of adjacent rollers, handgrips near but spaced from said feet and positioned between the rockers for spacing the same apart, and means for detachably connecting said hand-grips to the rockers.

8. An improved exercising machine comprising rocking support having an upper concavity, a plurality of rollers carried. by said rocking support, said rollers projecting upwardly into said concavity for freely receiving a person in a sit ting posture, said rollers being arranged substantially arcuately for movement back and forth beneath the body of the person seated on the rollers while the body remains substantially erect.

9. An improved exercising machine comprising a rocking support having an upper concavity, a plurality of rollers carried by said rocking support, said rollers projecting upwardly into said concavity for freely receiving a person in a sitting posture, said rollers being arranged substantially arcuatelyfor movement back and forth' beneath the body of the person seated on the rollers while the body remains substantially erect, and hand holds on the end portions of said support for receiving both hands of the occupant adapted to enable the occupant to rock the support beneath such occupant.

10. An improved exercising machine compris-- ing an invertible rocking support having feet for maintaining said support from rocking when upright, and a substantially arcuate row of rollers carried by said support and presenting at oppo site sides of the support convex and concave rolling surfaces.

11. An improved exercising machine comprising an invertible rocking support having feet for maintaining said support from rocking when upright, a substantially arcuate row of rollers car-' ried by said support and presenting at opposite sides of the support convex and concave rolling surfaces, and hand holds on the end portions of the rocking support.

PAUL L. DIXON. 

